Holy smokes, this book! Absolutely phenomenal, the best (new) book I've read in a long time. The writing is beautiful - I had to get used to it in the beginning but once I did, I was hooked. I loved how the stories of the Greek gods and the Trojan war were woven together. This book absolutely wrecked me, but in the best possible way. I was sobbing through the final chapters. I found so many pieces of myself in so many of the characters. I'm not that familiar with the details of the original myths, but I am IN LOVE with this version of Hades and Persephone!

A few of my favorite quotes (so many to choose from!):

"The darkness came without her calling. Unbidden, it rose in a whisper that roared like a storm, spilling from the deepest well of her being. Like breath held too long."

"He was the iron at her back. The stronghold of patience and formidable strength that had stood beside her, waiting - waiting until she rose into her own."

“Do not judge a book by its cover.” Well, that’s exactly what I did here! It was mid-2000s and the years of literature reading I’d had to do for high school and uni had completely sucked the joy of reading out of me. I was wandering in a bookstore and saw the Dutch translation of this trilogy (it was still a trilogy back then). The covers were absolutely gorgeous - I still have them, the only Dutch books left on my shelves. I decided to give it a go because the story sounded interesting. I LOVED it. It brought my love of reading back to life, and it is still one of my all-time favorite series. The writing is just absolutely beautiful. Highly underrated IMO!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Could not put this book down! It was an absolute blast to read. So funny, so heartwarming. Loved the setup of this book and how - and when! - information is shared with the reader. While there is a hefty amount of science/math that went straight over my head, I feel the author did a great job at providing context in a way that made it easy to follow along with the story, without needing to grasp the science fully (or at all). The plot is definitely thrilling overall, but the core feeling throughout is hope - something we need more of these days! The ending was incredibly satisfying to me. I would highly recommend going into this book completely blind, if you can! (I watched the movie trailer before I read the book and fully regret that decision now...)